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The Institute for Creative Development is a non-profit think tank and center for advanced leadership training dedicated to clarifying and supporting the maturity of understanding and action a vital future will increasingly require. From 1984 through 2002 it existed as a Seattle-based “bricks and mortar” institution. Today its work is international and often web-based.

This site includes links to sites that address various aspects of the Institute’s work. The Cultural Maturity Blog is for most people the place to start. It addresses critical emerging cultural challenges and provides commentary on the kind of understanding needed to effectively address them. The remaining sites provide in-depth educational resources.

The Institute’s efforts are coordinated by psychiatrist and futurist Charles M. Johnston, MD, and the larger portion of its contribution is drawn from his thinking. Dr Johnston is author of numerous books that help make sense of the times we live in and what future human challenges will require of us. He is best known as the originator of Creative Systems Theory, a comprehensive framework for understanding purpose, change, and interrelationship in human systems.

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From Charles Johnston: “The institute’s work brings big-picture, long-term perspective to the human condition. The kinds of insights it explores can initially stretch people’s understanding. But with time, they come to seem like common sense. What is new is that this is a degree of common that before now we could not have tolerated—it would have overwhelmed us. Today, it has become essential.

The Institute’s efforts confront what are arguably today’s two most important questions: How do we best understand the times in which we live? And, what kind of thinking will be required if we are to effectively address the essential challenges before us as a species.

“With regard to the first question, the Institute’s work focuses on the concept of Cultural Maturity, a key notion within Creative Systems Theory. We tend to assume that modern thinking and modern institutions represent end points and ideals. The concept of Cultural Maturity proposes that what we see today can’t be an end point if our future is to be at all bright. It describes how the most important challenges of our time require new human capacities if we are to address them effectively. It also describes how a critical cultural “growing up” happening in our time is making these new capacities possible. The Institute works to development appreciation for these needed, more mature human capacities and presents offerings that help people develop them in their personal lives and as leaders in the world.

“With regard to the kind of thinking needed for times ahead, the Institute’s work focuses on how today’s increasingly complex questions require understanding that is dynamic and systemic in a sense we have not seen before. In particular, it focuses on further developing and teaching the ideas of Creative Systems Theory, one framework that succeeds at this essential task. Creative Systems Theory proposes that what makes the human species particular, if not unique, is the audacity of our toolmaking, meaning-making “creative” natures. It uses this recognition as the basis for a comprehensive approach to understanding how human systems work and for making sense of and addressing the challenges and opportunities that define our time.”

News:

Three new books by Charles Johnston are now out and available in both print and e-book form. (See the ICD Press section for descriptions.)

Hope and the Future: An Introduction to the Concept of Cultural Maturity (See www.HopeandtheFuture.com.) is a short book (135 pages) written for a general audience, It provides the best place to begin for those interested in the concept of Cultural Maturity.

Cultural Maturity: a Guidebook for the Future (with an Introduction to the Ideas of Creative Systems Theory) is a more lengthy effort (630 pages) intended for those interested in an in-depth emersion in culturally mature perspective.

Quick and Dirty Answers to the Biggest of Questions: Creative Systems Theory Explains What It Is All About (Really) (See www.creativesystems.org/icd-press/qdabq/.) (130 pages) describes how culturally mature perspective helps us address overarching questions that have always before left us baffled.

In an effort to make the concept of Cultural Maturity as widely understood as possible, the Institute is making digital copies of Hope and the Future available free of charge. If you would like a complementary copy simple email Lyn at ICD Press (ICDPressLD@gmail.com) and let her know whether you would prefer it in pdf or e-pub format. If you belong to an organization who’s member might find the book of value, feel free to pass along information about this offer. We would like to support the broadest conversation possible.

The Cultural Maturity Blog provides an interactive resource for learning about and engaging with the concept of Cultural Maturity. Its posts address both front-page-news cultural issues and critical long-term questions from a Cultural Mature perspective. The site includes an extensive library of material on Cultural Maturity and the ideas of Creative Systems Theory. Posts include links to library material. The library can also be perused independently as a learning resource.

This site provides an overview of the ideas of Creative Systems Theory. Creative Systems Theory addresses the life of human systems of all sorts—individuals, relationships, organizations, as well as large cultural systems. It presents a nuanced and detailed framework for understanding living systems in living terms.

This site provides an in-depth look at the concept of Cultural Maturity. It both addresses the theoretical underpinnings of the concept and offers examples of culturally mature understanding and action. It is intended for people interested in developing the new, more nuanced and sophisticated leadership capacities we will need increasingly in all parts of our personal and collective lives.

This site provides an introduction to the Creative Systems Personality Typology (CSPT) and serves as a forum for its ongoing development. The CSPT represents one of Creative Systems Theory’s major contributions. It presents on detailed framework for understanding temperament differences with important applications to self-knowledge, education, psychology, organizational development, and leadership. Its considerable power derives from the depth at which it engages, the breadth of its scope, its effectiveness as a tool for supporting collaboration, and its direct pertinence to the kind of thinking effective future leadership will increasingly require.

Once each year during the Institute’s “bricks and mortar” life, Charles Johnston did a day-long presentation using the history of music and movement to bring insight to how culture, and human systems more generally, creatively evolve. The last presentation was taped and segments of it are available here is view on line.

Charles Johnston is in the process of putting together a new video series that addresses some of the more important implications of culturally mature perspective and leadership and also aspects of Creative Systems Theory that have particular direct implications for our time.

Charles Johnston’s Private Practice

Charles Johnston continues to have an ongoing private practice as a psychiatrist/psychotherapist. He specializes in working with individuals in positions of leadership, people of creative bent, and practitioners who are themselves in the helping professions. You can find a full description of his psychotherapy practice at http://www.networktherapy.com/charlesjohnston/.